New Opposition Leader & more – 7th Nov 2023

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 7th of November twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

Let’s start off this edition with some political news…

The main opposition, the Republican People's Party, or CHP, had its 38th Grand Assembly last weekend. On Saturday, the 4th, the party voted to elect its new leader, and on Sunday, the 5th, it chose its new delegates. In a surprising move, the party removed Kılıçdaroğlu from office and elected Özgür Özel, a “reformist" candidate, ending Kılıçdaroğlu’s thirteen-year rule in the party. Özgür believes that the party has to reform its strategy to have any chance of winning the next elections, and he made this his election campaign.

This was also the first time a CHP leader lost his re-election bid. Actually, there were four candidates, but two of them withdrew from the election hours before the Assembly took place.

Kılıçdaroğlu left the arena before the party announced the winner. His move was put into question, as rumor has it that he couldn’t handle losing. However, many said that Kılıçdaroğlu initially wanted to withdraw from the race, but the party board talked him out of it.

Moving on to some diplomatic news…

Late on Sunday the 5th, Anthony Blinken, the Foreign Minister of the United States, arrived in Ankara to meet with his Turkish counterpart. The next day, on Monday the 6th, they met to discuss the situation in Gaza and how to prevent the war between Israel and Palestine from spreading.

Just hours before Blinken arrived in the country, a group of pro-Palestine protesters attempted to storm the İncirlik Military base in the city of Adana, which houses U.S troops as well. The base has been a controversial location recently. Many have been calling on the government to shut it down, citing that it houses foreign military in the country. The Israeli-Palestinian war has brought the issue back to the spotlight.

The police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

In more news about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…

The spokesperson of the ruling Justice and Development Party called the Israeli government a ‘killing machine’ and accused the West of encouraging Israel to commit more murders.

About that…

An unnamed man threw a box of mice into a McDonald's restaurant in Istanbul to protest against its alleged ties to Israel. In a video of the incident, the man shouts at customers, "Eat these mice, not the meat of Muslims."

Back in early October, McDonald’s Israel branch announced that it gave thousands of free meals to Israeli fighters. Following this, McDonald’s Turkey said they have no affiliation with the Israel branch of the fast food chain and announced that it has donated money for humanitarian aid for the victims in Gaza. However, many people have been attacking foreign fast food chains, saying that these stand with Israel. Some of these chains are Starbucks and Burger King.

On another note…

Recall that last week, the Constitutional Court deemed the imprisonment of Cem Atalay, a parliament member and a Gezi convict, a violation of his rights and demanded his immediate release. Well, Atalay hasn’t faced trial in the Criminal Court yet, so the public doesn’t know if the court will abide by the Constitutional Court’s decision. However, the Justice minister said that the Court of Cassation had the final say in the decision, not the Constitutional Court, which—according to him—was overstepping its jurisdiction and attempting to change the Constitution.

Another week, another elevator malfunction…

On Sunday, the 5th, an elevator in a state-run university dormitory in the city of Rize crashed to the ground with students inside. Fortunately, no one was injured, but one student was taken to the hospital as a precaution. This is at least the third elevator accident reported in the last two weeks at a state-run dormitory.

Some news on urban planning…

Last year, the Istanbul Municipality, an opposition municipality, began constructing a Social Center on one of its lands in the Esenler district. The project included a kindergarten, an arts center for the locals to take up different crafts and courses, a library, event spaces, and a parking lot.

However, the Esenler Municipality, the ruling party’s district municipality, decided to change the zoning for the area and use it solely as a parking lot. Upon this, the construction of the Social Center halted. The Istanbul Municipality filed a lawsuit against the Esenler municipality, and on Tuesday, the 7th, the administrative court overturned the Esenler municipality’s decision. This means that the Istanbul municipality can now complete the center's construction.

On Thursday, the 2nd, a court arrested an imam for insulting Atatürk, the founder of the Republic, and inciting hatred and enmity against the state. His arrest came after a video of him criticizing Atatürk started circulating. In the footage, he said that the Republic had targeted religious values and executed Islamic scholars. He also said that the switch to the Latin alphabet from the Arabic script that Atatürk introduced in nineteen twenty-eight made Muslims illiterate. His speech was put into question and even sparked outrage, with many saying that he should be prosecuted for hate speech.

Onto some news on transportation…

In its November meeting, the Ankara Municipality decided to give public bus drivers a specific amount of money for every passenger they carry, even if they have a free pass.

Recall that earlier this year, Mansur Yavaş, the mayor of Ankara, had vetoed a decision to provide monetary support for bus drivers. Upon this, bus drivers protested by refusing to carry people with a free pass, like veterans, people older than sixty-five, and relatives of deceased soldiers, arguing that they weren’t making any money from them.

Next up, to mark Organ Donation Week, the Health Minister encouraged people to donate the organs of their brain-dead loved ones. He said that an average of 2,000 people become brain-dead every year, and added that their organs could help others on the brink of death.

Speaking of ministers, The Minister of Environments and Urban Planning said that the government has many housing projects scheduled for next year. He added that he foresees that those projects will cause the housing prices to drop slowly.

In unrelated news…

Recall that a few weeks back, news of Dilan and Engin Polat’s money laundering broke the internet. They have been the talk of the town ever since. Here’s what happened since our last report: Well, all twenty-four of the couple’s luxury and company cars have been seized. The police arrested the two and more than ten people close to the couple. There are allegations of tax evasion, forgery, forming a criminal organization, and illegal betting.

Some news on the weather…

Turkey has been experiencing stormy weather for the last week. As a result of this, sea transportation has halted. Many ferries have canceled their services.

On that note about the storm…

Reportedly, on Sunday the 5th, a solar storm hit Earth at night. The storm caused the sun's magnetic field to interact with Earth's magnetic field, creating the colorful Northern Lights. It’s a very rare phenomenon and it can only be seen in certain parts of the world at certain times. However, this time, many people in Europe saw the sky in red and green. Check the link in the show notes to see some pictures!

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